New Delhi, July 13: A special investigation team in Nepal arrested four Pak nationals, suspected to be members of Lashkar-e-Toiba, from two hotels in Kathmandu on Wednesday night for their involvement in Mumbai blasts. Besides, the banned organisation SIMI has also come under the scanner again, as the West Bengal government ordered a crack down on it and authorities in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat saying they are keeping an eye on its members.
The arrests followed leads from Indian Embassy in Nepal. A special team comprising officers from IB, RAW and Special Cell have left for Nepal for further investigations.
SIMI under scanner in WB, Andhra, Gujarat
The banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) has come under the scanner again following the Mumbai blasts, with the West Bengal government today ordering a crack down on the group and authorities in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat saying they are keeping an eye on its members.
West Bengal's Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said in Kolkata that SIMI, banned in 2001, had no overground office but it could be "playing a part" wherever Islamic militants were active. "The state government has ordered a crackdown on it," he told reporters.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, however, said later there was no significant presence of SIMI activists in West Bengal.
In Hyderabad, Additional Commissioner of Police Rajiv Trivedi said Andhra Pradesh Police were monitoring the activities of suspected LeT and SIMI activists in the state.
The Gujarat Police too are keeping a close watch on the activities of SIMI and Madarasas, especially in Surat and Bharuch districts. "We are closely monitoring the movements of SIMI activists in Surat," the city's Police Commissioner Sudhir Sinha said.
Sinha said police are keeping an eye on four persons who were among 123 SIMI activists arrested for unlawful assembly in December 2001.
SIMI ex-chief denies group's hand
SIMI's former president Shahid Badar Falahi, however, denied the group's involvement in Tuesday's blasts, which he described as a "crime against humanity".
Demanding a high-level probe into the attacks in Mumbai, Falahi alleged at a press conference in New Delhi that an orchestrated campaign is being conducted by the "government, media, RSS and Bajrang Dal to deliberately discredit the SIMI" for the incident.
Intelligence officials have said the SIMI has forged links with both the Lashker-e-Taiba and Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami and that its activists are now active in Assam, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
LeT operative under scanner
Lashkar-e-Toiba module leader Zaibuddin Ansari, who is missing after his role into the Aurangabad arms and explosives seizure was exposed, is under the scanner of the Anti-Terrorists squad of Mumbai Police and Central intelligence agencies in connection with the blasts, sources said.
Ansari, who is believed to be the brain behind mobilization of arms and explosives in Marathwada region of central Maharashtra, is suspected to be the link between LeT and the SIMI. Police is probing the role of LeT and SIMI in the present blasts.
Though the ATS seized 17 AK-47 assault rifles and 43 kg of RDX apart from arrested 16 persons in the Aurangabad arms and explosive seizure case, it has not been able to get through the motive behind mobilization of the weapons and explosives, the sources said.
Mumbai Police detain 150 in raids
Mumbai Police have detained about 150 people for questioning in connection with the train bombings, officials said on Thursday, amid suspicion that Kashmiri militants could be linked to the attacks that killed at least 200 people. Most of the detentions were made overnight in Malad, a suburb of Mumbai, said the police.
He said none of them has been formally arrested or charged, and they were rounded up only for questioning to help with the investigations into Tuesday's serial bombings.
Mumbai Police Commissioner AN Roy confirmed a large number of arrests had been made but refused to give an exact figure.
Meanwhile, taking a tough stand against Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the Union Home Ministry has issued a directive to state governments to crackdown on the group’s activists. The Ministry has also asked the Central secret services like RAW and IB to cooperate with state governments in the crackdown.
To strengthen Criminal Investigation Departments of various states, the Centre is likely to call a meeting of the Director General of Police (DGPs) of various states.
Police mop up Mahim rail tracks to collect clues
To gather clues on the explosive
device used in suburban trains on Tuesday, the police on Thursday
collected a portion of a railway track at Mahim railway
station near where one of the seven bomb blasts had occurred.
A pile of materials was collected from the spot by police
and was handed over to the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) which is
probing the blasts that killed 200 persons and injured over
700, the sources said.
However, no substantial clues about the explosives
have so far been found, they added.
Sources said some printed circuit boards (PCBs) were
recovered from the spot but said it could be from any of the
electronic gadgets which passengers travelling in the first
class compartment may have been carrying.
11 from Thane district held in Tripura
Eleven persons from Thane district
of Maharastra were on Thursday detained at Sonarai Masjid near
Indo-Bangla international border in Dhalai district of Tripura
on suspicion, police said.
CCTVs to be installed at Rashtrapati Bhawan
In the wake of threat perception to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Delhi Police has decided to install hi-tech close circuit television cameras (CCTVs) to monitor the movement of people visiting the palatial structure.
A tender has been floated recently for the installation of as many as 74 CCTVs in the premises and the system was expected to be in place in the next couple of months, official sources said on Thursday.
Railway Ministry to install CCTVs in important stations
The Railway Ministry is contemplating
installing more closed circuit TVs (CCTVs) and metal
detectors at all important railway stations.
"We will arrange for closed circuit TV surveillance,
sniffer dogs and metal detectors at all important railway
stations," Railway Minister Lalu Prasad told reporters here
today.
Ministry officials said that CCTVs had already been
installed in about eight to nine stations and the target was
to extend this surveillance to 49 other stations this year.
CCTVs installed in seven Mumbai stations
Close Circuit Televisions (CCTVs)
have been installed at seven railway stations of Mumbai and
the Western Railways plans to hire a security agency to
improve surveillance in the wake of Tuesday's serial blasts in
suburban trains.
The stations are Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Dadar,
Bandra, Bandra terminus, Andheri and Borivali, Western Railway
general manager Rajkamal Rao told reporters here today.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, July 13, 2006, 00:00